The present invention relates to a portable printer having an RFID (radio frequency identifier) encoder, and particularly to a miniature, portable, printer capable of both printing on media and encoding RFID circuits coupled to the media. The invention is suitable for use in printing indicia, such as barcode, text, and graphics, on labels, tickets, stickers, tags, and other patches, and encoding information on RFID circuits coupled to the same media, where the encoded information may be related to the printed indicia. The printer operates responsive to a host terminal or computer to provide RFID circuit encoding with or without printing on the media.
Miniature portable printers have been used on factory floors, in warehouses, and in retail establishments for ticket printing and inventory control. For example, such portable label printers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,004,053, 5,806,993, and 5,267,800. These printers print indicia, such as text, bar codes, or graphics, on media, such as adhesive-back label stock or paper, from a roll in the printer""s housing. Being miniature, such portable printers are more useful than heavier stationary or briefcase printers, as they are of a small weight and size to be easily carried or worn by a user.
Recently, RFID circuits or smart chips have been developed which represent thin, battery-less, transponders attachable to a substrate. These RFID circuits can be encoded to store digital information, and then read by a reader-unit designed to capture the information stored in the RFID circuit at certain radio frequencies. Data can be read from an RFID circuit at a distance from an RFID reader, and often do not require the RFID circuit to be in sight of the reader. Examples of RFID circuits include the TIRIS RFID transponders manufactured by Texas Instruments, Inc., Dallas, Tex., or Icode RF ICs, manufactured by Philips Semiconductor. Often, such RFID circuits are referred to as RF tags.
Although the miniature portable printers mentioned above can print on various types of media, such printers are not capable of storing digital information on media having RFID circuits. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a miniature portable printer capable of encoding RFID circuits attached to the same media upon which the printer prints. Such a portable printer would provide advantageous features of small size and weight, and the ability to produce labels, or other types media, which can identify an object by both printed matter and/or RF signals.
One printer having RFID encoding capability is the 140XiII Printer, manufactured by Zebra, Inc, of Vernon Hills, Ill. However, this printer is neither portable, nor miniature in weight and size.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a portable printer capable of both printing on media and encoding RFID circuits coupled to the media.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a portable printer for printing on media and encoding RFID circuits coupled to such media in which the information printed on the media can be related to the information encoded.
Briefly described, the portable printer of the present invention has a printer mechanism for printing on media and a RFID encoder for encoding information onto RFID circuits attached, or bonded, to the media to provide integrated RFID media. The printer mechanism and RFID encoder are contained in a housing of the printer with a programmed controller for controlling the printer mechanism and the RFID encoder. The printer mechanism includes a print head and a motor for driving a platen roller to advance the media across the print head and passed the antenna of the RFID encoder, such that one surface of the media is presented to the print head upon which indicia, such as text, graphics, or barcodes, may be printed. The media is stored in a compartment in the housing on a roll or fan-fold in which multiple RFID circuits are provided along the length of the media. The programmed controller in the housing operates, responsive to communication received from a host terminal or computer, to send information to the print head to print information on the media and/or information to the encoder to encode the RFID circuit, via the antenna of the encoder.